Strong accepts Louisville job

Posted: Thursday, December 10, 2009

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LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Florida defensive coordinator Charlie Strong is headed to Louisville to be the Cardinals' head coach.

Louisville hired Strong on Wednesday to help revitalize a program that sagged under former coach Steve Kragthorpe, signing him to a five-year contract that will pay him a base salary of $1.6 million a year.

Strong's sturdy defenses helped Florida win two national championships and for most of the past decade he has been considered a potential head coach.

Yet as season after season passed without a viable opportunity to move up the coaching ranks, Strong admits he wondered if he was ever going to get the chance to lead his own program.

"When we were offered this job, me and my wife (Victoria) and I looked at each other," Strong said fighting back tears, "because you just never thought it was going to happen."

Louisville athletic director Tom Jurich, however, never had a doubt. He waited patiently while the Gators finished their regular season, spending his time talking to friends and fellow coaches of Strong looking for some insight.

Strong's first mission will be to win back a fan base that fled in droves as the Cardinals struggled under Kragthorpe, who was fired on Nov. 28 after going 15-21 in three seasons.

"We're going to start over," Strong said.

Jurich hopes Strong can energize supporters who grew disenchanted with Kragthorpe as the program steadily slid from the heights of 2006, when the Cardinals won the Big East and the Orange Bowl and finished the season ranked No. 6 in the final poll under coach Bobby Petrino.

A crowd of just over 23,000 turned out for last month's season finale against Rutgers, a decline the program knows must stop with Cardinal Stadium expanding to 55,000 seats in time for next year's opener against rival Kentucky.

Not that Strong is feeling the pressure. He's waited his entire life for the opportunity. He becomes the 11th black head coach in the Football Bowl Subdivision and the fourth hired in the last month.

"Even when I was a defensive coordinator, I thought 'If I do my job, it may not happen for me ... but it could pave the way for someone else,' " Strong said.

Strong said he plans to be on the sidelines for the fifth-ranked Gators when they play No. 4 Cincinnati in the Sugar Bowl.

"I've been there, I still feel like I owe it to them," Strong said.

Jurich has no problem with the arrangement, particularly if Strong can produce the kind of eye-popping results he did at Florida.

The Gators ranked in the top-20 nationally in 10 statistical categories last season while winning its second national title in three years.

No. 5 Florida has been just as good this fall, finishing third in the Football Bowl Subdivision in scoring defense and fourth in total defense.

He'll have plenty of work to do at Louisville, where the defense's precipitous fall has fueled the Cardinals' descent into the Big East cellar.

Louisville ranked 67th nationally in both total defense and scoring defense this year, significant improvements from 2007 and 2008 but still only good enough for seventh in the eight-team Big East.

Unlike Kragthorpe's hire, which came less than 48 hours after Petrino opted to leave for the NFL, Jurich took his time while searching for the coach charged with bringing Louisville back to national relevance.

Though Strong was considered Jurich's top choice all along, Louisville waited until Florida was done with its regular season before reaching out. Jurich also spoke briefly with former Tennessee coach Phil Fulmer about the position last week.

Strong's deep recruiting ties to the South would be welcomed at Louisville. Kragthorpe and his staff largely abandoned recruiting in the area in favor of looking for players from the west and southwest.